The scene stealer here must be the row of young boys with their white
collars and caps and their backs pressed against the stone wall.
What is curious, though, is what looks like a thatched shed in
the church yard.

Holy Trinity Church had opened in 1842 and was, unusually, built
on the north to south orientation so the altar window, seen in
the photograph, was at the southern end. The church sits on a platform
or shelf above the A6 trunk road. Bulmer's Directory described
Holy Trinity in 1895 as "a handsome cruciform
edifice in the Decorated Gothic style, erected in 1842, at a cost
of £2,250.
In 1874-5 the chancel was lengthened, and a south aisle added,
at an expense of about £700. The tower is surmounted by a
crocketed spire, 129 feet high"[1].
Bulmer's was a year or so out with the date of the extension as
the project was agreed in late 1872 and the work began in 1873[2].

A few years before this picture was taken, the village had heard
the first peal of bells for ringing in the services; before then
there had only been a single bell. An anonymous donor had made
a gift of the bells, costing about £200, with the largest
bell being inscribed as a token of the regard for the Vicar, Rev.
Charles Baker. The bells were known as the hemispherical chimes
and were made by Warner and Sons, of London[3].

The first baptism at Holy Trinity was that of William
Frank Standall, the son of William Standall, a fishmonger, and
his wife Sarah on 9 October 1842[4].
The first marriage solemnised at the church was not until 30 Dec
1844 when Charles Potter of Upper Wood, a farmer and widower, married
Dorothy Wildgoose. The couple were later buried in the churchyard[5].
The first burial, though, was that of Elizabeth
Sarah Thomason, who was recorded as being "late
of Manchester"[6].